Alabama tornadoes: Six months later, tornado recovery far from done

A resident salvages items from a home in Pleasant Grove, Ala., on Thursday April 28, 2011. (The Birmingham News/Hal Yeager)

Six months ago today, Calvin Thomas looked out the door of his church and saw something he'd never seen before: a tornado ripping out trees, toppling houses and heading his way.

He turned to the four other people at Victory Baptist Church. "I said, 'Run, run, run, get in the hall!'" recalled Thomas, a deacon in the DeKalb County church. "I barely got the door closed, and it started exploding. ... I literally felt like we were in the hand of God."

They emerged from the rubble, safe but horrified. Lifeless bodies lay in a field. Houses had vanished. Heavily wooded areas were stripped clear. "There were some places that looked like the storm plowed that ground," Thomas said.

Tornadoes sowed suffering and loss across Alabama that day: 62 twisters killed at least 248 people, injured more than 2,000, destroyed close to 8,000 homes and seriously damaged almost 6,000 others.

In some communities, the destruction was near complete.

Although recovery seems distant for some people and places, considerable progress has been made. More than 10 million cubic yards of rubbish has been picked up, state officials say, and a number of communities are fully engaged in rebuilding plans.

"The state is in really good shape, considering," said Art Faulkner, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. "We've accomplished some extreme things."

But not without considerable cost. At the federal level alone, about $530 million has been spent helping communities and storm victims get back on their feet. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said:

• More than 88,000 individuals and families registered for assistance from FEMA, and more than 16,300 were approved to receive a total of $175 million. Close to $103 million came in loans from the Small Business Administration, and $73 million involved FEMA grants. Fewer than 900 applicants received the maximum FEMA grant of $30,200.

• FEMA has approved more than $1.1 million to help pay for the funerals of storm victims.

• Almost $103 million in state, local and federal money has already been tagged for public work made necessary by the tornadoes. Close to $65 million of that is for debris cleanup, and almost $38 million is for repairing or replacing public buildings, roads or facilities.

These numbers do not include the sizable insurance claims being paid in the wake of the storms. The insurance industry has estimated claims could reach $3 billion, and Alabama-based Alfa alone said it has 25,000 claims, totaling $425 million.

The FEMA numbers also do not include the substantial sums spent by charitable organizations on tornado recovery. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham alone said it has spent more than $1 million in Birmingham and in other areas. The United Way of Central Alabama said it has made more than $800,000 in grants to help individuals recover.

A dozen communities involved in long-term recovery efforts have sought help from FEMA, and at least 40 meetings have been held across the state. But rebounding can be complicated.

In Birmingham, volunteers recruited by the American Institute of Architects helped craft a master plan for the hard-hit Pratt Community. But residents have said abandoned properties with title problems are a challenge going forward, as are questions about who will return.

Pleasant Grove Mayor Jerry Brasseale said 80 new houses are under construction, and the city has issued about 900 building permits. But there is still some debris to be cleared from private property, and some residents have moved away.

"We are hoping that those who did move away will see how much is going on and move back," Brasseale said.

In unincorporated areas of Jefferson County, county planners have been working with FEMA and with residents to create long-term plans.

"We are saying to residents, 'Think 20 to 30 years down the road,'" said the county's chief planner, Dan Voketz. Concord and North Smithfield are moving quickly in the rebuilding process, while McDonald Chapel is making slower progress, he said.

"We've already issued 50 to 60 permits in Concord, and North Smithfield is building, too," he said. "But in McDonald Chapel, there are a lot of damaged rental properties, and folks are not building back there as much. We've got to figure out something to do with those properties."

In Concord, the residents don't want a lot of change, Voketz said. "The bottom line with Concord is they want to retain their identity. They want to build back as it was."

Across the state, communities are undergoing similar long-range brainstorming, and they are rebounding at varying speeds.

In the city of Tuscaloosa, planners using suggestions from thousands of residents have produced a long-range rebuilding plan, said Meredith Lynch, a spokeswoman for the city. The plan includes compact, "walkable" village centers, revitalized corridors, and a greenway that links neighborhoods and serves as a memorial to tornado victims.

In the meantime, Lynch said, the city has issued more than 4,000 new-construction permits and is seeing businesses return.

The city of Cullman has created a new redevelopment board for the hardest-hit area, and businesses are starting to build, Mayor Max Townson said.

Residential rebuilding has gone more slowly, he said. Many destroyed homes were along U.S. 278, which highway officials were already planning to turn into four lanes in the future. Some residents are negotiating to sell their land rather than rebuild, Townson said.

In Hackleburg and Phil Campbell, which both experienced catastrophic losses in an EF-5 tornado, progress has come slowly.

Hackleburg was heartened when a destroyed Wrangler distribution plant announced it would rebuild. But its only grocery store and restaurant aren't returning, and that has distressed residents, said Don Barnwell, a Marion County commissioner who lives in and represents Hackleburg.

"We really need a restaurant and a grocery store," he said.

Some residents are rebuilding, but others have bought homes elsewhere, he said. It's the same in Phil Campbell.

"We have lost a lot of citizens ... who will not be back," Phil Campbell Mayor Jerry Mays said.

He doesn't see a speedy recovery for his city. "It may take five, 10 years, and it will never be normal. It will be a new normal."

If there is a good side to the death and destruction six months ago, it is the help that materialized afterward.

That's the way Calvin Thomas sees it. The church that fell down around him six months ago is almost rebuilt, thanks in large part to 130 volunteers who came from North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"It was a terrible thing," Thomas said of the tornado. "But yet, there was such a blessing in the way people came out and helped. ... It was the most amazing thing."